What Acalvio Technologies does

Acalvio Technologies, Inc. is a private, Silicon Valley-headquartered cybersecurity company that builds AI-driven deception technology for preemptive threat detection. Its flagship product, the ShadowPlex Preemptive Cybersecurity Platform, is built on the 360 Deception framework, a three-vector architecture combining fake assets that look real, real assets that appear deceptive, and intentionally suspicious artifacts. The platform centralizes deception management in the Acalvio Deception Center (ADC), deploying agentless projection sensors and AI-generated decoys, honeytokens, and HoneyPaths across IT, OT, identity, and cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP, AD, and Azure AD). The portfolio is organized around four core modules: ShadowPlex Advanced Threat Defense (for APT and AI-driven attacks), Identity Protection (deception-powered ITDR with decoy honey accounts), Cloud Security (agentless multi-cloud honeytoken deployment), and Targeted Threat Intel (external-facing decoys and STIX-formatted indicators), plus newer offerings including Agentic AI Runtime Protection and ShadowPlex InSights for Active Directory attack-path analysis. The company holds 25+ granted U.S. patents covering fluid deception, network intrusion diversion via SDN, deception in containerized environments, and AI-driven adversary trajectory tracking.

Acalvio serves midsize to Fortune 500 enterprises and government agencies, with sales-led motion, quote-based enterprise pricing, and a 'Schedule a Demo' funnel. Distribution is hybrid: direct sales, OEM embedding through the Honeywell Threat Defense Platform (HTDP) for OT/ICS, native integrations with CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection, Microsoft Sentinel/Defender/Entra, Splunk, and Armis, a Google Cloud Marketplace listing ('preemeptivesec-agenticai'), and regional channel partners including AmiViz for the Middle East. Revenue mechanics combine subscription/software licensing, OEM/embedded licensing (Honeywell HTDP), and managed service delivery through channel partners. Disclosed funding totals approximately $58.2M across rounds from 2014-2022, with investors including Accel, Google Ventures, Honeywell Ventures, Ignition Partners, Paladin Capital Group, Presidio Ventures, Splunk Ventures, J2 Ventures, and TriplePoint Ventures. The company was co-founded by Ram Varadarajan (CEO), Raj Gopalakrishna (Chief Architect), Sreenivas Gukal (Chief Product Officer), and Nat Natraj (Board), and is led from Santa Clara, California.

Name

Acalvio Technologies

Legal name

Acalvio Technologies, Inc.

Website

https://acalvio.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Acalvio Technologies builds AI-powered cyber deception software (ShadowPlex platform) for preemptive threat detection across IT, OT, identity, and cloud environments, serving midsize to Fortune 500 enterprises and government agencies worldwide through direct sales, OEM partnerships (Honeywell), and technology integrations with CrowdStrike, Microsoft, and major cloud providers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cybersecurity Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Deception Technology & Threat Hunting (HDADAGAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Identity Threat Detection & Response (ITDR) (HDAEAJAH), Deception & Honeypot-Based Network Defense (HDADABAN), Endpoint Deception & Anti-Ransomware (HDADAEAL), Secrets Management & Cloud Key Management (KMS, Vaults) (HDADADAK)

Keywords

• Cyber deception platform
• Preemptive cybersecurity
• Identity threat detection
• Cloud security deception
• Active defense technology

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Clara

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Subscription / Software Licensing: Acalvio serves midsize to Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, offering flexible deployment from Cloud, on-premises, or through managed service providers. Deception-based preemptive cybersecurity is typically delivered as enterprise software with recurring licensing.
2. OEM / Embedded Licensing (Honeywell HTDP): The Honeywell Threat Defense Platform (HTDP) embeds Acalvio's AI-driven deception technology to protect OT environments, generating revenue through OEM/embedded licensing arrangements.
3. Managed Services / Channel Distribution: Solutions delivered through managed service providers and channel partners (e.g., AmiViz in the Middle East), with partners providing enablement, training, and deployment expertise.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Core offering

Acalvio develops and sells the ShadowPlex Preemptive Cybersecurity Platform, an AI-powered cyber deception platform built on its patented 360 Deception three-vector framework. The platform deploys dynamic decoys, honeytokens, HoneyPaths, and deceptive credentials agentlessly across IT, OT, identity, and cloud environments to detect, divert, and deny adversaries during reconnaissance, credential harvesting, and lateral movement — before damage occurs. Modules include Advanced Threat Defense, Identity Protection (ITDR), Cloud Security, Targeted Threat Intel, Active Directory Protection (InSights), and Agentic AI Runtime Protection.

Product overview

Acalvio offers a single unified platform (ShadowPlex Preemptive Cybersecurity Platform) built on its patented 360 Deception framework, with a portfolio of four core ShadowPlex modules: Advanced Threat Defense (for APT/AI-driven attacks across IT, OT, and cloud), Identity Protection (deception-powered ITDR with honeytokens and decoy honey accounts), Cloud Security (agentless multi-cloud honeytoken deployment across AWS, Azure, and GCP), and Targeted Threat Intel (external-facing decoy-driven reconnaissance and credential attack intelligence). The platform also bundles Agentic AI Runtime Protection for securing agentic AI systems and workflows, and includes ShadowPlex InSights as the Active Directory attack-path analysis module. All modules share the Acalvio Deception Center (ADC) architecture, projection sensors, AI-driven autonomous deception orchestration, Copilot (LLM-powered decoy content generation), and 25+ granted U.S. patents, with deployment options spanning appliance, private cloud, telco/XSP, and public cloud (including Google Cloud Marketplace).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ShadowPlex: Acalvio's flagship AI-powered cyber deception platform providing preemptive threat detection across IT, OT, cloud, and identity environments; comprises Advanced Threat Defense, Identity Protection, Cloud Security, and Targeted Threat Intel offerings.
• 360 Deception
• Acalvio Deception Center (ADC)

Products and services

• ShadowPlex Preemptive Cybersecurity Platform Unified AI-powered preemptive cybersecurity platform built on 360 Deception. Uses decoys, honeytokens, deceptive credentials, and HoneyPaths to detect, divert, and deny adversaries before impact across IT, OT, cloud, and identity systems. Centralized on the Acalvio Deception Center (ADC); supports appliance, private cloud, telco/XSP, and public cloud deployments; backed by 25+ granted U.S. patents.
• ShadowPlex Advanced Threat Defense AI-powered deception module that exposes APT-style and AI-driven attacks early with precision and speed across IT, cloud, and OT environments. Uses 350+ prebuilt deceptions and a five-stage AI workflow (Network Discovery, Create & Deploy Deceptions, Monitor & Triage Alerts, Analyze Adversaries, Respond) to surface reconnaissance, credential harvesting, lateral movement, and privilege escalation.
• ShadowPlex Identity Protection Deception-powered Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) module that provides deep visibility into the identity attack surface and uses AI-generated decoy honey accounts, deceptive privileged credentials, and honeytokens to detect credential misuse, impersonation, lateral movement, and privilege abuse across AD, Azure AD, endpoints, and cloud.
• ShadowPlex Cloud Security Agentless cloud security module that deploys AI-powered deception and honeytokens across AWS, Azure, and GCP via native cloud APIs. Protects cloud-native workloads (VMs, containers, serverless functions), IAM, and credential stores with cloud workload protection, attacker signals, cloud identity threat defense, and multi-cloud detection.
• ShadowPlex Targeted Threat Intel External-facing threat intelligence module that deploys decoys for web apps, APIs, and IPv6 IIoT services to detect reconnaissance and credential attacks early. Delivers real-time, STIX-formatted indicators (IPs, credentials, attack patterns); available as managed cloud service or on-premises/cloud appliance.
• 360 Deception Three-vector cyber deception framework built to break AI attack automation. Combines fake assets that look real, real assets that appear deceptive, and intentionally suspicious artifacts to detect, divert, and degrade attacker activity. Operationalized across ShadowPlex modules covering identity, endpoints, network, cloud, and cyber-physical environments. Validated by 100% true positives and 80% denial of attacker objectives in U.S. Navy ANTX FY25.
• Agentic AI Runtime Protection Runtime protection for agentic AI systems and workflows. Delivered as part of the ShadowPlex preemptive security portfolio to detect, divert, and contain threats targeting agentic AI identities, executions, and infrastructure.
• ShadowPlex InSights (Active Directory Protection) Active Directory-focused module that passively maps AD configurations, shadow admins, stale accounts, and unmanaged SPNs without domain admin rights. Performs AI-guided deception and traversal analysis, Attack Path Analysis to shortest path to domain dominance, and SOC-integrated containment. Detects Kerberoasting, AS-REP Roasting, DCsync, Golden SAML, and recon attacks via prebuilt decoy objects; provides 150+ point analysis of AD and ADCS attack surface.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100% true-positive detection rate and 80% adversary-denial ratio in U.S. Navy ANTX FY25 cyber-resilience challenge
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration14 records

AI capability9 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core / regional flagship partner, core technology partner, flagship technology and go-to-market partner, flagship oem/embedded partner, strategic partner, strategic implementation partner and adjacent ecosystem partner.

• AmiVizcore / regional flagship partnerChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 4 May 2026Strategic distribution partnership to distribute Acalvio's AI-powered deception cybersecurity solutions across the Middle East region. Targets government, finance, energy, telecom, and large enterprises. AmiViz provides regional partners with enablement, training, and deployment expertise. Announced May 2026.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)core technology partnerTechnology or IntegrationFeatured as a Strategic Partner on the Acalvio homepage. ShadowPlex deploys deception natively via AWS APIs across EC2, containers, serverless functions, IAM, and Secrets Manager for multi-cloud detection.
• CrowdStrikeflagship technology and go-to-market partnerTechnology or IntegrationDeep native integration between ShadowPlex and CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection. Honeytoken accounts and tokens are deployed and managed directly from the Falcon console via APIs. Falcon natively monitors Acalvio-deployed honeytoken accounts and triggers high-fidelity detections; Acalvio leverages Falcon Identity Protection Honey Account monitoring and containment policies for scalable deception-based identity threat detection.
• Honeywellflagship oem/embedded partnerOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerThe Honeywell Threat Defense Platform (HTDP) is powered by Acalvio's AI-driven deception technology. Delivers preemptive cybersecurity for OT/ICS environments where traditional security tools are too heavy or intrusive. Detects attacker activity early without impacting OT systems or overwhelming teams with false positives.
• Microsoftcore technology partnerTechnology or IntegrationFeatured as a Strategic Partner on the Acalvio homepage. Integrations include Microsoft Sentinel (SIEM), Microsoft Defender for Identity, Microsoft Entra, and Azure AD for deception-powered early detection and identity threat response.
• Verizonstrategic partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerFeatured as a Strategic Partner on the Acalvio homepage.
• Google Cloudcore technology partnerTechnology or IntegrationFeatured as a Strategic Partner on the Acalvio homepage. ShadowPlex is available on the Google Cloud Marketplace as "preemptivesec-agenticai" for agentic AI runtime protection. Integrates with Google Cloud for agentless deception across cloud workloads and IAM.
• Wiprostrategic implementation partnerImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerFeatured as a Strategic Partner on the Acalvio homepage. Major global systems integrator likely supporting enterprise deployment of ShadowPlex.
• Armisadjacent ecosystem partnerTechnology or IntegrationFeatured as a Technology Partner for ShadowPlex; Armis launched its marketplace in 2026 to help security teams evaluate integrated technology stacks.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• SentinelOne: Acquired Attivo Networks, the historical direct competitor in distributed deception, and now embeds deception into its Singularity XDR platform. Closest large-scale competitor offering deception plus adjacent EDR/XDR, making it the most directly comparable peer.
• Darktrace: AI-driven threat detection platform using behavioral and autonomous-response techniques across IT, OT, and cloud. Comparable in narrative (AI preemptive defense) and target buyer (mid-to-large enterprise and industrial) even though its underlying approach is anomaly detection rather than deception.
• Vectra AI: AI-driven network and identity threat detection focused on attacker behaviors across hybrid environments. Most directly comparable peer in identity-attack detection and response, addressing the same ITDR pain points Acalvio targets with honeytokens.
• Smokescreen: Pure-play cyber deception vendor offering decoy-based detection for endpoints, networks, and cloud. Closest pure-play deception competitor and the most directly comparable niche peer to Acalvio's ShadowPlex.
• Cymulate: Breach and attack simulation plus exposure validation platform that overlaps with ShadowPlex's threat-hunting and red-teaming use cases. Comparable because both sell adversary-emulation-driven detection ROI to enterprise security teams.

Broad incumbents

• CrowdStrike: Falcon Identity Protection provides native ITDR and is also Acalvio's flagship go-to-market integration. CrowdStrike is both Acalvio's biggest distribution partner and the most likely incumbent to absorb honeytoken/deception capabilities natively.
• Microsoft: Defender for Identity and Microsoft Sentinel cover ITDR and SIEM workflows that Acalvio ShadowPlex complements. As a platform incumbent with deep identity and cloud reach, Microsoft is the largest competitive overhang on Acalvio's ITDR and cloud security modules.
• Palo Alto Networks: Cortex XDR and Cortex XSIAM provide platform-level detection, response, and increasingly identity-aware analytics. Overlaps with ShadowPlex on advanced threat defense, cloud security, and OT/security operations use cases for the same Fortune 500 buyers.
• Sophos: Broad endpoint, network, and managed security vendor with Intercept X and MDR services that increasingly incorporate deception-style detection. Comparable as a broad incumbent that can bundle deception-adjacent capabilities into platform deals against pure-plays like Acalvio.

Emerging players

• Tidal Cyber: Threat-informed defense platform centered on adversary emulation and deception-aligned detection content. Smaller, emerging peer that addresses overlapping SOC and threat-hunting workflows with a deception-adjacent product strategy.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=HUQPLALqvkk
• Xx.com/acalviotech
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/acalvio-technologies

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds6 records

Investors12 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Acalvio Technologies